Extent of Nazi Camps Far Greater Than Realized

Extent of Nazi Camps Far Greater Than Realized
Decade-Long Study by Holocaust Museum Scholars Could Alter Public Understanding

By Monica Hesse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 4, 2009

A little more than a decade ago, researchers at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum decided to create an encyclopedia of concentration camps. They assumed the finished work would be massive, featuring a staggering 5,000 to 7,000 camps and ghettos.

They underestimated by 15,000.

Their ultimate count of more than 20,000 camps -- which they reached after a year of research -- is far more than most scholars had known existed and might reshape public understanding of the scope of the Holocaust itself.

"What's going to happen is that the mental universe of how scholars operate is going to change," said Steven Katz, director of Boston University's Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies. "Instead of thinking of main death camps, people are going to understand that this was a continent-wide phenomenon."

The Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos: 1933-1945 "is the first major reference work for Holocaust studies since . . . the fall of the U.S.S.R." and the opening of many European archives, says Paul Shapiro, director of the museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. As a result, more information was available to researchers than had ever been before.
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Extent of Nazi Camps Far Greater Than Realized

Support for Troops, After Combat

Support for Troops, After Combat
SSW gets $1.5 million to help military families
By Caleb Daniloff

BU’s School of Social Work, the only school of social work tapped to tackle post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) issues stemming from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has won a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to study the impact of war-related stress on military families.

Ellen DeVoe and Ruth Paris, SSW assistant professors, have teamed up with Betsy McAlister Groves, director of the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center, to examine the impact of deployment stress and combat trauma on military families with young children and to develop sustainable programs to deal with issues such as separation and reassimilation. The four-year collaborative effort also involves experts from the School of Public Health and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System.
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http://www.bu.edu/today/2008/11/19/support-troops-after-combat

With Help of Boston University Students, Homeless Vets Stand Down

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:August 7, 2008
With Help of BU Students, Homeless Vets Stand Down(Boston) - For around 7,000 Massachusetts veterans who have defended their country abroad, the return home is plagued with homelessness and a dire need of supportive services. Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine (BUGSDM) students and staff hygienists will be part of the solution Friday, August 8, as they provide free dental screenings and information to veterans at Boston's Operation Stand Down in Clifford Park.
Operation Stand Down, named for the act of returning to a secure base camp after combat to find meals, personal hygiene care, and medical services, will provide just that.
Veterans will have access to haircuts, clothing, food, housing advice and health screenings.With good oral health increasingly recognized as a key to overall wellbeing, BUGSDM looks forward to meeting many men and woman at the event. "Whether they are looking for oral screenings, advice, or just someone to talk to, our students and staff are humbled and appreciative to be asked to be part of the Stand Down," says BUGSDM's Oral Promotion Coordinator Kathy Lituri.Veterans Benefits Clearinghouse, which organizes volunteers, asked BUGSDM to be the event's first dental care provider in 2007, when the School spoke to about 100 homeless veterans.Operation Stand Down takes place Friday, August 8 at 8 a.m. through Saturday, August 9, at 2 p.m. at Clifford Park, across from 1010 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston.
The mission of Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine is to provide excellent education to dental professionals throughout their careers; to shape the future of dental medicine and dental education through research; to offer excellent health care services to the community; to participate in community activities; and to foster a respectful and supportive environment.— 30 —Contact:Jackie Rubin, Communications SpecialistBoston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine617/638-4892, jackier@bu.edu

Boston University report on PTSD

PTSD Associated With More, Longer Hospitalizations, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2008) — Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with more hospitalizations, longer hospitalizations and greater mental healthcare utilization in urban primary care patients. These findings appear in the current issue of Medical Care.

Prior studies suggest that trauma exposure and PTSD have considerable impact on health care use and costs. Most of this research, however, has focused on male veterans and female sexual assault victims but the impact on healthcare use in other populations is uncertain.

The researchers interviewed a sample of primary care patients to examine overall prevalence of traumatic exposure and select behavioral health outcomes in addition to PTSD, including major depression, substance dependence and chronic pain. The interview included demographic questions, the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (version 2.1 PTSD module), the Chronic Pain Definitional Questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire (to measure depression) and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview-Short Form (for drug and alcohol dependence).

Among the participants, the researchers found that 80 percent had one or more trauma exposures. Compared to participants with no trauma exposure, subjects exposed to trauma were significantly more likely to be males, unmarried, have substance dependence and depression. They also had more mental health visits than those with no trauma exposure.

Among the participants, 22 percent had current PTSD. Compared to participants without PTSD, those with PTSD were significantly more likely to be female, to have an annual income of less than or equal to $20,000, have substance dependence and depression. PTSD participants also had more hospitalizations and mental health visits.

According to the researchers, among urban primary care patients PTSD is associated with greater health care use: both mental health visits and hospitalizations. "Unexpectedly, trauma exposure by itself was not associated with increased healthcare utilization apart from mental health visits, a finding which was attenuated after adjusting for PTSD," said lead author Anand Kartha, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at BUSM. "This may be due to the fact that the non-traumatized to whom we are comparing the traumatized patients, have complex social milieu leading to high utilization," added Kartha.

"PTSD has a cost beyond the specific mental health symptoms," said senior author Jane Liebschutz, MD, an associate professor of medicine and social and behavioral sciences at BUSM and a primary care physician at BMC. "PTSD may be on the causal pathway between trauma experiences and negative health consequences. These findings are relevant in light of the PTSD prevalence not only in our returning veterans, but in areas of urban poor," she added.

This study was supported in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Adapted from materials provided by Boston University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327172124.htm